TRYING TO keep up with the headlines these days is like staring down a pitching machine in a batting cage. As soon as you put your bat on one delivery, another is racing toward the plate.

But, what the heck, let’s take a few swings:

Anyone have an unwelcome mat? One of the terms of Concord’s settlement with former police Officer Lisa Capocci in a sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit is that her attorney, Stan Casper, will file no future lawsuits against the Police Department. Harper has been a frequent filer, so to speak, suing the department on five occasions, often successfully.

Not that anyone asked, but rather than trying to eliminate all future legal opponents, one by one, wouldn’t Concord be better served by prohibiting its law enforcement officers from harassing and mistreating one another?

A curious aspect of the $750,000 settlement is the size of Capocci’s share ($250,000) compared with her attorney’s ($500,000). Isn’t this the sort of thing that makes people think lawyers are more interested in chasing money than justice?

When we mentioned that to Casper, he didn’t even threaten to sue. He simply explained: “Employment discrimination cases carry with them the responsibility or obligation to pay attorney’s fees to plaintiffs who prevail.” His fees, he said, were $100,000 less than the city reportedly spent in its defense, and they would have been lower if Concord had settled sooner. So there!

We were surprised to learn that most smokers are still unaware that cigarettes can be unhealthy. Why else would the Food and Drug Administration demand that future warnings on cigarette packaging include graphic images of bedridden cancer victims on oxygen tubes, smoke-stained skeletons and diseased lungs?

So the biggest question now confronting the California High-Speed Rail Project is whether to spend its $4.3 billion in federal grants and matching state bonds on tracks from Merced to Fresno or from Fresno to Bakersfield. Or, put another way, do you want this bullet train to nowhere to traverse 60 miles or 113?

It’s difficult to imagine a better use for funds of this magnitude, with the possible exception of health care, education, social services and public safety. But those aren’t nearly as sexy. Warning messages on bullet-train tickets should include an image of politicians pouring cash down a drain.

We’ll leave it to historians to evaluate Arnold Schwarzenegger’s performance as governor, but there seems little doubt that he will leave office as the state’s top real-estate agent. His administration figures to be the first and last to arrange the sale of 24 state buildings for $2.3 billion as a stopgap budget-balancing measure.

The only downside is that the state will pay about $1.4 billion more than that to lease back the property over the next 35 years. Plus, it does seem a little odd that California can’t afford buildings for its employees to work in but it can pay for a train it doesn’t need.

Last, not least, we read with amusement of two science professors who believe that the U.S. should map out arrangements to colonize Mars. Their plan, explained in the Journal of Cosmology, calls for bold adventurers to make the one-way, six-month flight for the sole purpose of preparing it for inhabitation.

If that trip doesn’t work out, we’ve heard there’s going to be an exciting, new way to travel to Fresno.

Gangs were likely involved in the string of arson attacks, police said, and they come amid mounting concerns in Sweden about gang-related violence. More than 40 people were shot and killed in the Nordic country last year, and the prime minister said in January that he was not ruling out a military response to gang activity.

A rooftop camera recorded the silver Ford Fiesta driving past Parliament and suddenly veering sharply to the left, striking cyclists waiting at a set of lights, then crossing the road and crashing into a barrier outside Parliament. Armed police surrounded the car within seconds, pulling a man from the vehicle. Police said the driver was alone and no weapons were...